Father Factor

October 6, 2014
Part of the "I Speak for Myself" series that seeks to create interfaith and intercultural "narrative collections," this anthology about fatherhood includes contributions from forty-two men of various backgrounds, ethnicities, and Christian denominations. Essays range from confessions, by the book's editor: "I think I might be failing as a good, Christian father;" to embarrassed memories turned into comedic gold: "My friends would die laughing. Laughing at my lunatic father," a father who was always there for writer Kurt Ro; to challenging by Drew Hart, who says many Christian parents "make their kids and families idols and the end goal of their Christian faith, while losing sight of simple Christian practices like discipleship and servanthood." Bryan Blaise quotes from a letter from his father: "Love others for who they are and how God made themâperceived flaws and all. You and your life as a gay Christian man have taught me this. You changed my perspective." While the title is plain, the essays contained are anything but mundane, perhaps because they are written in media res of fatherhood, affording readers a glimpse of Christian fatherhood today.